The curtain is about to rise on the final act.
With one week to go before International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge announces which city will change forever, bid committees are already en route to Prague to make sure that that city is theirs.
Vancouver will be sending a total delegation of 100 people and many have already arrived in Prague. Included in the group will be Prime Minister Jean Chretien who won’t arrive until election day July 2nd so he can attend to Canada Day duties on July 1 in Ottawa.
Also on the list are marquee Canadian Olympic medalists including skier Steve Podborski, speed skater Catriona Le May Doan and hockey player Wayne Gretzky, all of whom will be participating in the final presentation.
Vancouver will conclude their final 45-minute presentation with Gretzky followed by Le May Doan who will utter the final words the voting members will hear from the bid before they cast their ballots.
“My part is three minutes and 30 seconds, and that means it’s to be three minutes and 30 seconds. It’s to the second” Le May Doan told the Toronto Sun about her role in concluding Vancouver’s five-year campaign to host the Games.
The presentation will also include Prime Minister Chretien and British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell, Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell, Chief of Squamish Nation Gibby Jacob, Canadian Olympic Committee President Michael Chambers and bid members Chairman Jack Poole and President John Furlong.
The list does not include people who may appear in a video presentation. Since the technical costs of the presentation were reported by the bid to be $275,000 – you can expect an impressive audio-visual component that may include many more famous Canadians to represent the culture of the bid.
The presentation “…will focus on the passion Canadians have for winter sports and to give the IOC comfort that handing over the Olympic flame to Canada would result in an outstanding Games in 2010” bid spokesperson Sam Corea told GamesBids.com stressing that the details will be kept under wraps.
Meanwhile, the PyeongChang bid committee has chartered a jet to bring a delegation of 230 people to Prague on Saturday. However, as a contingency some of the delegation has already arrived in Prague including Gong Ro-myung, the chief official for PyeongChang.
“We will present to the IOC members our specialized strategies for athletes-oriented and sports-oriented Games,” Gong told the Korea Times. “We will also emphasize the fact that PyeongChang can enhance the Olympic Movement for peace.”
Vancouver will be the first presenter of the day followed by Salzburg and then PyeongChang. After the presentations the IOC evaluation committee will present its report on the bid cities and then 119 members will vote on the first ballot (of 126 members, 7 represent Austria, Canada and South Korea and will not be eligible to vote).
A city is declared the winner when they receive 50% plus one of the eligible votes. If there is no majority then the city with the fewest votes is dropped from the ballot and a second ballot will be held to determine the winner. In case of a tie, the IOC President will cast the deciding vote.
Then, a city will change forever.
